- When it started, social media was just that,
a way for people to talk and connect.
Then, brands moved in and realized
they could have conversations with their customers too.
The social networks had users
and now needed a business model to survive.
They looked to traditional media and decided to embrace
advertising and promoted posts
as a way to make money and encourage companies
to pay to amplify their content.
And so the world of paid, earned, shared, and owned media,
or PESO, began.
With PESO, the model developed
by Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks,
there's an overlap of disciplines.
For example, Facebook,
which started out as a place for organic posts,
is now a home for any combination of PESO media.
At the center of it all,
are your stories and content
and I don't just mean Instagram, Snapchat,
or Facebook stories that disappear 24 hours
after you create them.
Your challenge is to find the right PESO combination
to maximize your reach and impact
with your customers without appearing to be
too much of a hard sell or a huckster.
In their book, "Marketing in the Round,"
authors Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich
offer a model to achieve this
and they call it a marketing round,
a place where marketing, PR, digital, direct,
experiential, internal, social, and customer relations
all come together to create an integrated plan.
The key is to lead with your customers and content
and not necessarily a media buy or PR program.
That isn't to say you completely abandon
the marketing tactics that worked in the past.
Embrace what I call the three Ps,
that's publish, produce, and promote
and pick the PESO mix that works for you.
So, what's in your mix?
Well, it depends on your budget and objectives
and making sure you pay attention to your data.
Adopting data driven decision making,
let's you test various combinations of PESO
to strike a balance that works for your customers and brand.
The key with PESO is to adopt a scientist's mindset
and use your data to test, analyze, and optimize
your content across social and traditional media
to maximize your budget and achieve your goals.